


First meetings

by Rogercat



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, First Meetings, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Half-Elves, Travel, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Valinor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29897052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Elrond gets to meet his maternal grandparents in Valinor for the first time
Relationships: Celebrían/Elrond Peredhel, Dior Eluchíl/Nimloth of Doriath
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	First meetings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ravenclaw_Peredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenclaw_Peredhel/gifts).



As she had arrived in Valinor long before her husband, it was only natural that Celebrían got to meet a few of their shared relatives first. 

“My grandparents are...hiding away from people?” 

At the moment, Elrond was getting information from his wife, details about various distant uncles, cousins and the kin that he would soon meet face to face. But one detail that she just had spoken, surprised him. 

“Nimloth admitted that she and Dior….nowadays associate large crowds with their time as the King and Queen consort of Doriath. In fact, she told me that neither of them really wanted that role. Dior is the type more comfortable with living a peaceful, simple life out in the country on the outskirts of a small village far from the nearest town because Tol Galen was not exactly close to Doriath and Nimloth grew tired of the drama between various courtiers at the royal court in Menegroth already long before Luthien met Beren.” 

While asking around for her cousin and her husband, for her father Celeborn was the younger brother to Nimloth's father Galadhil, Celebrían had learned that it was _extremely rare_ to see Dior and Nimloth out in public ever since their rebirth alongside their twin sons somewhere in the Third Age. According to her maternal uncle Finrod, the only time they had been present at a grand event between the various royal Elven families, the couple had basically escaped as soon as they could without seeming rude against the hosts, the now fully grown Eluréd and Elurín following after their parents as well. 

“Oh dear. I take it that they may associate crowds with the manner of their deaths as well? I mean, the Second Kinslaying did happen in Doriath and only my mother escaped alive.” 

If that was the case, then Elrond did not blame his maternal grandparents and uncles to be uncomfortable in crowds. Something may trigger unpleasant memories they could prefer to forget, after all. 

“There is also...people constantly wanting to talk about Beren and Luthien around Dior. He grew tired of that subject rather fast, you see, and hates to be seen as mostly their son.” 

Ouch. Well, that was something Elrond memorized as not to talk about, then. He had a few things himself that he hated when people brought up. Everyone would have such detail that was not fun to talk about. 

“So basically, I should wait for them to take contact, right? Likely you, honey, because you are more familiar than myself at the moment?” 

His wife smiled tenderly in response over her cup of tea. 

“Yes. They asked me to send an early apology to you about it, especially if you hoped to meet them already before you had stayed in Valinor for long, but as I said, they are not exactly the most social people after the past.” 

Elrond had no problems with waiting. There were a lot of old friends and other relatives that would demand his attention first. If Nimloth and Dior needed time to feel ready for meeting him, their grandson, then he was willing to let them take the first step. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

A few months passed, before one day a set of silver-haired Elves with faint chestnut skin colour, showed up at the doorstep to the house where Elrond and Celebrían now lived. 

“Oh! Elrond, it is your uncles!” she called upstairs to his study, and the former Lord of Imladris hurried down when he heard who the unexpected guests were. 

“A great joy to finally meet you, nephew.” 

Unlike his own sons, Eluréd and Elurín seemed like a set of fraternal twins, likely a result of their Mannish blood from Beren though Dior, and most shared the silver hair while otherwise being rather different in the shape of face and Elurín being a bit on the thinner side that suggested that he was less active outdoors than his brother. Both were very tall for Elves, undoubtedly inherited from Thingol, but Elrond saw that they seemed to be healthy nonetheless, which secretly pleased him. As they had been born mortals yet accepted immortality to be counted among the Elves, one of his big worries about his maternal relatives would be how their health might be. 

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well, uncles. I hope that your parents are well?” 

They seemed to expect him to ask that type of question.

“Amil and Ada sent us to tell you in person that they wish you and Celebrían to be guests in their home, if you can make a trip within the coming days. They would have sent a letter with directions, but there have been...others trying to intrude on their home,” Eluréd said, looking a bit unsure how to explain it all, and Elurín took over:

“The sort of people who only knows Ada as the son of our grandparents and tries to see if he indeed is as fair as the rumors tell. There have even been cases of people behaving in an impolite manner against Ada for...this and that reason.” 

Oh, oh. Now Elrond was beginning to guess another reason why his maternal grandparents refused to be around people, if it was to give Dior peace from others. He had heard about how very attractive people tended to draw unwanted attention and given what he knew about Dior being called the Fair, it did not seem strange if he too suffered from that sort of problem. 

“I will gladly meet them in their own home.” 

They smiled, and suddenly Elrond was reminded of Elros somewhere as a shadow in their smiles. Perhaps they had taken after their maternal kin more than just inheriting the dark hair?

  
  


It turned out that his uncles had not been joking about their parents living in a very remote village far away from the large cities. On the way there, which indeed took nearly a month, Elrond learned more about his grandparents that his wife had not been sure to tell him without breaking the trust between her and Nimloth, such as that Dior was actually dyslexic and therefore rarely wrote anything in his own hand. And that Nimloth had been the one to kill Curufin thanks to her being very skilled with a sling to hurl small stones at high speed and getting a killing blow into one of his eyes right outside the nursery. 

“Wow...that is not a detail mentioned in history lessons!” Elrond commented in awe, feeling his respect for them grow. He knew that Dior had managed to kill Celegorm in a mutual kill, but for Nimloth to kill another one of the Fëanorians? Made him wonder if it had not been witnessed thanks to Curufin being separated from his brothers, followers or that Nimloth had managed to kill any possible witnesses as well before they would spread the tale. 

“Anyway, Ada feels more comfortable working with his own hands. Amil enjoys their quiet lifestyle as well, since this reminds of their life before they became the new royal couple and had to deal with the mess left behind by Thingol and Melian.” 

Listening to the twins, Elrond asked what they knew about the health of their parents. Thanks to the questions, he learned that Elwing had drained a lot of spiritual strength from both her parents during the pregnancy, especially Nimloth since it was not common for Elves to have another child only three years after a earlier birth, which explained why she was the last child to be born in the royal family of Doriath before her own sons. 

“But she is fine now, right?” Elrond wondered with a little bit of alarm over listening to what the twins recalled of their mother during that time, hoping so at least. After all, both Luthien and Arwen had chosen mortality, and therefore was unlikely to be drained in the same manner as Nimloth, when Arwen would give Aragorn children. 

“Yes. Amil has recovered well, but Ada was also badly spiritually drained at her birth and both did not have the same energy as before. In fact, I have some memory of the palace healers whispering something about it looking like Elwing in the womb acted like a… parasite,” Eluréd said with some unease, and Elurín did not seem that comfortable with talking about it either. 

“And yet they still managed to kill two Fëanorians in that weakened state…” Elrond thought for himself, feeling that people must be underestimating his grandparents because of how history described them. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

Finally, they arrived at the rural village way out in the countryside and could leave the horses to rest in a stable near a building that was the closest thing to an inn there. Sure, the village was not big enough to have a shared small place of worship for the Valar, but it seemed to be reasonably well-off for farming and Elrond could spot a school building in the distance, where the Elflings currently had their lessons. 

“Is there anything we may need to know about their household?” 

Once again, Elrond got surprised when his maternal uncles revealed that the few household servants that consisted of a female cook, three housemaids, a gardener, a handyman and a stable groom for the two horses that belonged to the master and mistress of the houses, actually was reborn, former orcs that had all earned a place in the service of Dior and Nimloth under rather unusual circumstances. 

“From what we know, they were all low in the pecking order of Angband and having some trouble getting along with the previous employers here in Valinor. Possibly because they did not accept being bossed around by the other servants even without knowing their past lives.”

Well, that ensured that no intruders could be sneaking around the house where Nimloth and Dior lived, at least, because the servants had quickly learned that their master and mistress hated when unknown people tried to catch a glimpse of them and therefore tried to repay the chance for employment by acting as unofficial watch dogs if it was needed. 

  
  


Clearly Eluréd and Elurín knew the habits of their parents well, for they guided Elrond and Celebrían towards the back garden behind the house, a modest two-story building with an underground cellar. 

“Amil! Ada! We have brought Elrond to meet you!” 

“Really?!” a surprised male voice was heard behind a massive berry bush, and it sounded like a hoe was dropped in the soil of the vegetable patch. 

Given what he just had been doing, Elrond did not look towards the dirty hands and common work clothes of Dior as he revealed himself in full view, but he was still not fully ready for the first impression of his maternal grandfather: 

With his tightly braided hair like the colour of the same loam soil that he just had been working on, Dior was indeed fair like many Elves, yet undoubtedly masculine as a result of his Mannish blood instead of looking like a handsome youth, proved by his broad shoulders and strong arms, but he had a scar across his left eye that marred the face he inherited from Luthien. Yet somehow, there was little doubt that Elros had taken after Dior in his prime. 

“...grandfather,” Elrond managed to say, thankfully without gaping with an open mouth like an idiot. 

“Boys! Did I hear you right? Elrond is here!?” 

Thankfully, Nimloth chose the right moment to show up before any awkwardness could be felt. It was from her that her sons and Elwing had inherited their chestnut skin colour, though Elrwing generally was agreed to take more after Luthien, thanks to her own mother being a Silvan from a nomadic tribe in Beleriand, and she too had dark brown hair from that side of her lineage.

“What a joy to finally see you, grandson!” 

Much unlike her slightly more reserved husband, Nimloth grabbed Elrond in a tight hug, and then her cousin as well. 

“Eh...would you like some tea? We have just picked fresh mint leaves from the herb garden, and the cook said that she would make some shortbread biscuits today.”

It was not that Dior had forgotten his manner as a host to guests in his home, but rather that he had been a little unsure on what to say, which Elrond could understand. First meetings face to face with a relative you had never met before was not an easy affair. 

“Gladly. Eluréd and Elurín have praised her skills in the kitchen, and they have also spoken fondly of the herb teas you have together.”

That seemed to make Dior relax a little bit, and Elrond knew that hopefully, this first meeting would be the start of a good relationship. He was way too old to dote upon with sweets and toys, but perhaps he could be of use for his grandparents as a connection to the wider world without them needing to travel to the big cities too often for their own comfort.


End file.
